In brief: The world’s most searched travel destinations

Every Friday, we help you
navigate the week’s most important and interesting travel news stories.

Upgrade!Amazing things that should
happen more often

In March, a tiny, battery-powered
gadget
called Trakdot will arrive in shops promising to help travellers electronically
keep
track of where their checked luggage is. Toss the device in your bag and it will use a cell-phone signal, not
GPS, to approximately pinpoint the bag’s location at airports worldwide. The
device is slated to cost $50, with a $13 a year subscription to receive text
alerts. [Gizmodo]

In-flight
entertainment Photos and videos that went viral on the Web
this week

Dramatic photos of "Real London" from a
native Londoner were this week’s viral photo sensation. They’re distinctive for the unusual
framing and angles of the shots, such as of skyscrapers in the city and Tube
stations at night, thanks to the photographer’s creative choices in shooting
locations and times. [Facebook]

Ready for takeoffAll set to go, but too soon to tell
what’s ahead

Reviews site TripAdvisor
is famous for being built upon the helpful comments of millions of travellers
worldwide. So it was fitting that when the New York Times’ Frugal Traveller
columnist blogged about how
to use TripAdvisor, the article received more than 230 comments, many of which turned out to be
more interesting than the article itself. [NY Times]

Travellers looking to book holiday packages may find that the
best time to buy flight-plus-hotel deals is now. Tour operators traditionally
offer most alluring package sales in January for travel between now and August.
The most impressively priced offers right now are for trips to Hawaii,
Iceland, and Ireland, say experts. [MarketWatch]

The Transportation Security Administration has
begun testing a new program allowing agents to select passengers to bypass
standard security checks instead of an expedited line based on personal observations about
passengers' behaviour. Some are already claiming the new system is ripe for
racial profiling. [NY Times]

Flight
attendants confess their secrets to the editor of AirfareWatchdog, a fare alert
website. Did you know that when flight attendants greet you at the door,
they’re often not on duty, because many airlines only begin to pay them an
hourly income either once the aeroplane doors close or its wheels take off from
the tarmac? “No wonder the smiles sometimes seem fake.” [LA Times]

A photographer captured scenes as 10,000 angry passengers crowded airline
counters and confronted police while delayed at China's Changshui International
Airport. As air travel becomes more accessible to China’s expanding middle
class, incidents like this have been occurring more frequently. [Sydney Morning
Herald]